SAN FRANCISCO — It took two days, a bruised shoulder and bind with the bases loaded for Cardinals rookie Kyle Leahy to turn a rocky lesson learned into an immediate result.
On Thursday, at Coors Field, Leahy entered a tie game and on the first pitch he threw — a fastball — it no longer was tied. Colorado pulled away for a 10-8 victory after two RBI doubles against the right-hander. Two games later, in San Francisco on Saturday, teammate Chris Roycroft departed the game after being struck on the shoulder by a line drive and left a bases-loaded jam for a teammate to figure out.
Leahy got the assignment to see improvement.
“Got to learn from Coors Field on how just coming in with dirty innings, with guys on base, hitters can be more aggressive,†Leahy said. “What spots, what pitches I’m going to throw with guys on base in that situation — just another thing to learn and I’ve learned a lot this year.â€
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Instead of a fastball, Leahy began the at-bat Saturday against Mike Yastrzemski with a changeup. Leahy then came back with a fastball that Yastrzemski got just behind — flying out to deep center field. Leahy stranded all three runners and kept the score tied before a late-inning error led to a 6-5 loss.
In the closing innings of the 2024 season, the Cardinals have found such moments to test, evaluate, and, yes, revisit some of the younger players. It’s why Matthew Liberatore continued to see high-leverage spots in the past week, why Michael Siani has taken some pivotal at-bats, and why Leahy got the encore Saturday so soon after a similar spot went sideways Thursday.
Time to talk
At the same time those moments are happening on the field, manager Oliver Marmol has been conducting year-end conversations with players.
He had less than a handful remaining as of Saturday morning. Before coming to San Francisco, he already had long in-person conversations with Nolan Arenado, Lars Nootbaar and others. Brendan Donovan said during his conversation with the manager he shared two traits he wanted to “maintain†coming out of this season.
“Giving myself a chance to play every day,†Donovan said.
“And the toughness of my at-bats,†he added.
During the discussions with players, Marmol wants to hear a player’s view of their season and, like Donovan, their goals. It’s a mix of reviewing the season and plotting what to do ahead of next season.
“I think there’s value in all of it,†Marmol said. “I usually let them speak first: ‘Man, walk me through how you felt this year.’ And they’re able to walk you through, here’s what I did well, here is what I could have done better. And then we have a list of things we go through as far as, man, you were super-positive in these areas and here is what we think is next for you. And we talk through what is next for you. Talk through how we get there. And what we have available to them this offseason.
“It’s a little bit of recap and then what’s possible.â€
And sometimes it doesn’t take an offseason for a player to get a chance to act upon something recently discussed with coaches or the manager. A Colorado native, Leahy misplaced a tie game with his first pitch at Coors Field. By downshifting to a 90-mph changeup in a similar spot in San Francisco and the followed with the 96.3-mph fastball. That got the out that kept the Giants from adding to their lead, and the Cardinals generated three runs to tie the game before Leahy pitched perfect seventh.
“The more you’re out there, the more situations you see, the more experiences you experience, and the more you’re going to learn,†Leahy said. “And it happens fast.â€
Mikolas muses: Maybe throw less strikes?
When he absolutely needed strikeouts to avoid an inning cratering on him Friday in his season finale, Cardinals veteran Miles Mikolas found a way to get them. By using a slider that he’s worked on over the past year or so to set up a four-seam fastball he’s always had, Mikolas was able to get back-to-back strikeouts to unplug the Giants in the third inning and send the Cardinals toward what became a 6-3 victory.
Mikolas earned the win to finish the year 10-11 with a 5.35 ERA, one of the highest in the majors for a full-year starter. Digging into his data to develop an offseason plan, Mikolas suggested one he could adjust.
Less strikes.
“Always looking for something to get me a little more swing and miss, and being a little smart with two strikes,†Mikolas said. “I’m so bullheaded on throwing strikes sometimes I get myself into trouble there a lot. I’d like to shorten up the curveball a little, make it harder, a lot of break. When I throw it around 80-mph range these swings seem to be a little more hesitant. Being a little more stubborn trying to get that swing and miss (and) not come back in the zone, get them to chase a little bit in certain counts.â€
Giant superlatives
Mostly accumulated when they starred for division rivals, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado are the active leaders in home runs and RBIs against the Giants. Goldschmidt has 32 and 115, respectively, and Arenado has 33 homers and 113 RBIs. The all-time MLB leader in homers and RBIs against the Giants? The Man. Stan Musial had 89 homers and 312 RBIs.
With two RBIs on Saturday, Goldschmidt moved ahead of Arenado for the active player lead in RBIs vs. the Giants.
This summer is the second time in franchise history that the Cardinals will open a season and close it on the West Coast, according to Elias research. The Cardinals opened this year at Dodger Stadium, and the only previous time they bookended a season with visits to California was in 1960, when the schedule began and ended with stops in San Francisco.
The Cardinals are 363-362 vs. Giants since they moved to San Francisco in ’58.
Extra bases
A scoring change added a hit and a double to Masyn Winn’s rookie season. What was initially ruled as an error on Colorado’s left fielder in Thursday’s second inning was changed upon further review to a hit. The Cardinals have other challenges pending, including one that would get an additional single for Winn as his season closes out.
- Goldschmidt, Arenado, and Donovan have been wearing star-spangled belts designed with their name and a U.S. flag motif. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were given them as gifts to wear on Sept. 11, and when Arenado and Donovan homered and Goldschmidt doubled, they decided to continue wearing them.
- Roycroft said he was fine after the game, bruised but not bother and only left the game to Leahy as a precaution.